World Briefing | Africa: Congo: Soldiers Riot And Loot Over Pay

Published: January 13, 2007

Soldiers protesting unpaid bonuses fired guns and grenades, looted shops and homes around Bunia, the main city in the eastern Ituri district, and raped the daughter of a World Food Program worker in a nightlong rampage, officials said. United Nations peacekeepers and local military authorities arrested at least 24 soldiers and stopped an advance towards the city center. The rioting troops, who complained they had not been paid year-end bonuses, were members of a national army being put together from former warring rebel and militia groups. Diplomats and aid workers say the fledgling army is badly paid, operates in appalling conditions and is the worst rights abuser in the country.